


red, red, red

by haftsuka



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Consensual Kidnapping, F/M, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haftsuka/pseuds/haftsuka
Summary: Deuce shakes his head. "It's the only thing she left behind in her dorm room. Her bed still smells like her.""Let's quit it with the sentimentality. We're getting revenge," Ace replies tightly. "Remember?"(In which Female!Yuu/MC is dragged back to the world of Twisted Wonderland.)
Relationships: Ace Trappola/Female!Yuu, Deuce Spade/Female!Yuu
Comments: 12
Kudos: 82





	red, red, red

Like a shooting star, Yuu's career as a student at Nightraven burns bright—and short. Ace and Deuce aren't even around to see her go.

It's Grim who goes running to find them in a snow-dappled campus, trailing white puffs of breath as he speeds along. The blurry scenery, if one pauses to look at it, is as neat and pristine as a professional miniature. There's a silence that hangs in the air, perhaps because of the cold. The only sound is of paws on stone as Grim finally reaches his destination—the mirror room. He doesn't hesitate to pounce right into the one that leads to Heartslabyul.

When he does, he nearly tumbles straight into the two people he was looking for.

Ace grabs Grim from the scruff of his collar, holding the not-cat creature up as he sways side to side. "Dude, watch where you're going!"

He stops and stares into Grim's blue eyes, a question written on his face. "Where's your little caretaker?"

Grim sniffs at that. A low whine rumbles in his throat, wobbling into a high pitch when he opens his mouth. "That's the problem, you see!"

Deuce, who was watching the pair's interaction, blanches at that. "What happened? Did something happen to her?"

Grim squirms to be let down and despite looking annoyed, Ace sets him on the ground. Now freed, Grim begins telling his story.

* * *

In a suburb you would see anywhere, there was an average-sized house with the standard nuclear family. There was nothing special about the location, house, or family, save for one exception. That exception was the family's daughter. Their daughter and only child was named Yuu.

She had disappeared from thin air for a whole years' time and only returned mere months ago, returning the same way she had left—sleeping in her bed. When asked about her whereabouts between her disappearance and reappearance, she simply shook her head, wide-eyed.

There was only one thing that was certain—and that was when she had first awoken in her old bed, what had left her mouth was the second half of a word.

" _—bye._ "

Yet, those memories faded away just like all others, and though held back from joining her friends in a new grade, Yuu was able to return to school with few issues. The girl contained a tenacity that lifted those who had been concerned for her up, and before long, it was 'just like old times.' She laughed with new friends, old family, and even a developing crush.

A peace settled over her that loosened her shoulders and put a spring in her step. As simple as anything, a new page was turned in her story.

It was when crisp autumn leaves began painting the suburban landscape in yellows, oranges, and reds that a sudden déjà vu hit Yuu. She laid in her bed, eyes open but not seeing.

The stillness of her room was cut by a single, sharp knock. Outside, a ruby red leaf fell from a tree onto her windowsill.

Yuu stirred to life, rolling off her bed. She looked around the room. The second knock she heard hit a similar staccato. Yuu turned her head in the direction of it.

The knocks were coming from her bedroom mirror.

* * *

Deuce is looking forlornly into a mirror, though not at his reflection. Underneath the school, there's a locked storage space that holds all kinds of different items needed—or not needed—for classwork. Unlike all the other jam-packed storage rooms, however, this room is barren save for the mirror hung on the wall—the mirror that had abetted Yuu's escape, according to Grim.

"Wonder if there's any way to just… y'know… pop in and drag her back," Ace wonders aloud.

Deuce looks behind him. His mouth is quivering, but it stops when he clears his throat. "Do you know anything, Grim?"

Grim paws uselessly at the wall, his eyes everywhere but never landing on the pair of boys. "She's gone for good, I think. But I had to tell someone. I had to show them that she'd been here."

Ace sighs loudly. The sound startles Deuce and Grim. "You brought us here to look at some mirror?"

Outwardly, Ace is acting the same as always he does. But when he moves forward to trace the outside frame of the mirror with his bare hand, there's an absent look in his eye.

"I want to smash this damn thing," Ace suddenly says.

Deuce nods as if he understands. "I do too."

A mischievous glint is in the redhead's eye as his hand that had been tracing the mirror grips the frame tightly. "Well, grab the other side, then," he says.

Deuce understands what he's to do as soon as he's told. He wraps both hands around the intricate trim that decorate the oval mirror and waits for a cue.

Ace counts down. "One, two… three!"

At the count of three, the mirror is ripped from the wall and thrown, crashing down to the floor to break into countless tiny pieces.

Grim yelps at the sudden destruction and shouts when he realizes what the pair have done. "Why did you do that?!"

"I'm pissed," Ace says, smiling through gritted teeth. "This is school property, so it's the school that took her from us. It's their just desserts to lose a precious artifact for it. I know for damn sure we wouldn't have been able to do anything with this mirror anyway."

Deuce bends over to grab a mirror shard. He turns it over in his hand. "If it had any magic to it when Yuu left, it's gone now. It's just a normal mirror." He shuts his eyes, a pained look on his face. When he opens them, though, the emotion is wiped clean away.

He drops the shard, lifts his foot and grinds it into the ground for good measure. "Good fucking riddens."

He storms out the room without waiting for Ace or Grim.

Eventually, Deuce finds himself pacing in the forest, lit by starlight. His joints are stiffening as the cold starts to creep into his bones, but he doesn't stop until his cheeks burn red with frostbite. That's when he finally starts weaving through the forest to make his way back to the dorms. His walk is undisturbed. He stews in his burning anger the whole way.

Deuce rubs the freeze from his hands after he walks through the double doors of his dorm. His arrival is not greeted. The students that are still awake keep their heads down. They must have heard the news.

The warmth of the dorms seems emptier than the forest Deuce had just been in. The absence of life in the atmosphere is loud despite the silence.

Deuce brings a contemplative finger to his mouth and thinks. He decides to head to the dorm library. It's much smaller than the official academy library, but it's one of Riddle's most treasured places.

When Deuce reaches the unassuming door and creaks it open to slip through, he is both surprised and unsurprised to find Ace slumped over a table, eyes on a book.

Ace looks up when Deuce is close enough to block his light. The redhead lifts his head, eyes squinting and looking noticeably displeased. "Hey, you mind, Douche?"

Deuce frowns. He grabs Ace's book and shuts it, takes a look at the title with his back to the table. Ace's chair gives a high-pitched screech as he stands to snatch the book from Deuce's hands.

"You're damned lucky I just earmarked that page," he growls. He opens the book again and flips through it. "We couldn't use that mirror, but I might know another one that can take us on a little trip to another dimension."

Deuce watches Ace, the irritation on his face slight but still clear as day. His lips are taut as he lets out a low, graveled voice. "Yuu betrayed us, Ace."

Ace doesn't look up, eyes continuing to scan each line of text. "I know."

"Then why—" Deuce's voice rises to a shout, but his throat closes up before the rest of the words can pass through. He looks down, fists clenched at his sides.

Finally, Ace raises his head. He's smiling. Gently, soundlessly, he sets his book open on the table. His hand falls reassuringly on Deuce's shoulder.

There's a glint in Ace's ruby red eyes. "It's simple. I want revenge."

"Come on. I know someone who can help us," he says.

When Ace breaks out into a walk, Deuce hesitantly follows. He's eventually lead to the hall of mirrors. Ace motions to the Octavinelle mirror.

"I hate this place, but they're the only ones who have what we need," Ace laments. "Let's go have a chat."

He beckons for Deuce to join him before jumping through the mirror.

* * *

Azul Ashengrotto is a typical businessman, and one thing no businessman does is put all his funds into one stock. The truth is simple: physical objects have a certain kind of permanence that a scrap of information or promise will never possess. That is one reason why contracts are his choice of weapon, and that is why he has an expansive collection of highly valuable antiques buried under his personal office. A particular tile on the flooring is loose enough for Azul to take off a glove, revealing black-tipped fingers that dig into the corners of the marble to pull it fully of the ground.

It reveals a ladder leading into a hole devoid of any light. From where Ace and Deuce are standing, it seems endless.

Jade, who had been standing off to the side, steps forward and breaks his silence. "Shall we go?" He motions gracefully to the yawning opening.

Ace and Deuce share a long look before finally nodding to each other. Jade watches them with a smile on his face before making the small journey down the ladder himself. Ace and Deuce have no option but to follow.

When their feet reach the smooth rock bottom, their way is lit by a flickering blue candlelight in Jade's hand.

"Normally, Azul wouldn't make this kind of deal," Jade says. "He has been wanting to gather more contracts since the… incident, however, and you two did seem like the best choice."

He shines the light forward, revealing a shadowed winding tunnel lined with shelves embedded into the walls. The silhouettes of books, jars, and larger furniture pieces are all similarly scattered about but done neatly enough to keep a clear path. In a nearby luxury chair, a human skeleton is frozen in the pose of taking a drag from the large cigar trapped in its bony fingers.

"Oh, and I'm sure Azul has told you this already," Jade calls out behind him. "If you tell anyone about what you've seen here, consider your life forfeit. It won't just be Octavinelle you'll be making an enemy of. We've our own outside clients who like the low-profile storage we can provide as Nightraven students. Think of taking anything here and your fate will similarly reach an abrupt end. Are we clear?"

Ace hops through the trail. He narrowly avoids kicking a pure gold goblet over. "Crystal, trust me. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies."

He still stares at the assortment of objects as he passes them, including a live jarred fairy knocking frantically on the walls of its prison.

Deuce's eyes fall on the same thing. He shuts his eyes and shakes his head, still meandering the trail all the same. "Was this tunnel always here?"

Jade stops for a moment to turn and look at Deuce. He smiles a wry smile, but it's just enough to reveal the tips of his razor-sharp teeth. "Apologies. I'm not at liberty to discuss that. Shall we continue?"

Ace and Deuce fall silent after that. They wordlessly walk the path behind Jade.

Eventually, they are stopped by Jade when he turns around to face them fully. He folds a hand and gives them a flawless bow before he steps aside to reveal their coveted item. Ace and Deuce rush over to see it for themselves.

A mirror is mounted on the wall, half-draped with a dusty faded white curtain. It had no doubt once been a crisp and clean piece of fabric, but it has spent what seems to be a very long time simply aging underground. Waiting to be removed.

Waiting to reveal the object that would connect Ace and Deuce to an unknown planet.

"I assume you will need some time. I'll be waiting at the entrance to perform an inspection before you three surface," Jade says and mounts his torch on a nearby sconce. "All you need is to place what you brought on the mirror's tongue. Good luck."

Jade leaves the pair without looking back.

It doesn't take too long for Ace to find the 'mirror's tongue,' a small black indentation at the bottom of the mirror that is indeed shaped like a tongue. It is a strange sight on such an ornate piece, but neither Ace nor Deuce are the type to linger on such things. By the time Ace spots the tongue, Deuce has already retrieved a single strand of a familiar girl's hair from his pocket.

Ace crinkles his nose at the sight. "Gross, dude." He grabs a small portrait from his pants pocket and gives it one long look.

Deuce shakes his head. "It's the only thing she left behind in her dorm room. Her sheets still smell like her."

"Let's quit it with the sentimentality. We're getting revenge," Ace replies tightly. "Remember?"

Deuce sighs, a drawn-out exhalation of air that has him slightly slumped over by the end of it. "I know."

He doesn't wait for Ace before sticking the lock of hair onto the right side of the black tongue. He jumps on contact. "It feels like a tongue," he exclaims.

"What?" Ace asks, startled. "There's no way—" He sticks the photo on the left side of the tongue. "Oh. Gross."

The tongue, now decorated with two different pieces, wags before sinking back into the fancy trim decorating the mirror with its gifts in tow.

It begins as a blurry image, but it clears with every moment that passes—a girl's room, the girl in question laying on a bed.

* * *

Yuu lays a hand on her mirror by instinct. She looks at it, not quite understanding herself. She jumps when she sees not her reflection, but a shadow. It lifts a fist and knocks again. This time it's a loud, demanding sound that fills the room and leaves Yuu trembling.

A pit grows in her stomach. She finds herself taking a few steps back and as a result knocks over a cup of coffee on the carpeted floor, the contents leaving a deep brown-black stain.

The fluttering in her chest comes unbidden, closely entwined with a dark anticipation. It's that anticipation that causes Yuu the most alarm. She, in equal parts enraptured and in horror, watches the shadow press an eye to the mirror and straighten its posture.

It leans back and rears a fist.

Yuu realizes what’s coming, but it's too late to react.

The fist comes down on the mirror hard. A single crack appears on the smooth surface.

Adrenaline is now crashing over Yuu's body in waves. She stares on, helpless.

The crack feathers into fractures that criss-cross the entirety of the mirror.

Then the whole thing comes crashing down.

Yuu falls to her knees, a puppet with its strings cut. Her head tilts back to look at the wood backing of what was once a mirror. A single tear falls from her eye and trails down her cheek.

For a long while, nothing happens. Yuu simply sits there in silence. Then—quick as lightning, missable by a blink—

The lights are out.

The sun has already begun to make its descent across the horizon. It casts Yuu's room in long, inky black shadows. Still, she remains where she is. An audience member, once seated, only gets up when they feel they can afford to miss what is to come.

A boyish whisper brushes against her ear, gentle. "Found you."

The voice is familiar, very familiar. It stirs up foggy memories in Yuu that she didn't even know that she had. The boy gets to his feet and opens his mouth again.

He motions around the room, a scowl on his face. "You left us for _this_?"

Despite the disdain in his voice, his eyes still rake over the contents of the room. There's curiosity to be found in the way he searches, mouth slightly ajar as he picks up Yuu's desk trinkets. But he drops them just as fast. Each of the objects clatter to the floor. There's a smile playing on his lips as he does it.

That smile pulls at something deep inside Yuu. It's a memory that grips her, forces her to her feet, calling out a familiar name.

"Deuce," she says, voice pleading.

Deuce freezes where he stands. His head turns in her direction for a moment but his eyes land on something else. He walks over to it, holds it in his hand. Deuce studies the mug that had upended its contents onto the carpet when Yuu had knocked it over. He looks to her, showing the logo decorating the ceramic.

"This your school mascot?" he asks.

Yuu, wide-eyed, nods.

"This is just trash, then," he says.

No sooner after she says this, cracks begin to envelop the now shaking mug. Deuce discards the item in the wastebin. He sighs as if he'd been faced with a particularly minor inconvenience.

He moves to clear a space next to Yuu and sits down, then leans into her shoulder, warmth soaking into the area where their bodies meet.

"You won't miss them," Deuce says.

A chill like a bucket of ice hits Yuu, starting from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes. For what feels like ages, she is quiet as if her tongue has been torn from her mouth.

Deuce frowns, eyebrows knitting tight in the silence. He reaches out a hand and strokes Yuu's cheek. The absence that had been affecting Deuce since his appearance drops away, replaced with something almost like affection. His hands meet hers, but the strength in them as they close around hers is like a vice. Yuu reflexively tries to move but can't.

"So many people were sad when you left," Deuce says. "You broke their hearts. You even made me hate my friend who turned her back on me without saying anything." Deuce smiles. "Now, though, things can be made right. You just have to make the right choice."

Yuu whimpers as the pressure on her hands become painful. "You're hurting me, Deuce."

Deuce startles at her words. He loosens his grip and stands up. "Think about it," he murmurs. "Please."

The door to Yuu's room opens with a long creak. Yuu jumps, turning to look towards the doorway. There, a tall figure stands silhouetted in the dark.

"Oh, look, it's Douche and the trickster," the figure says.

"It's Deuce," Deuce replies.

The figure steps into the dim light coming from the window, revealing a brightly colored redhead in uniform. His gaze slips to Yuu for a moment before he looks back at Deuce. "I'll leave the rest to you."

Deuce knits his eyebrow tight but still moves to leave through the doorway. Before he's completely left the room, though, he turns to look at Yuu and mouths something. _'See you.'_ He smiles with a hint of bitterness.

When Deuce finally leaves the room, the redhead rolls his eyes and sighs dramatically. He picks up a picture frame off her desk, having a look at it before raising his head again. The second his eyes land on Yuu, a wide grin grows on his face.

"How have you been?" he asks. Ice inches into his words. "And who are these people?"

A silence falls over the both of them. Ace would not open his mouth until Yuu did. Yuu gulps, her throat bobbing ever so slightly.

"My family," she responded – the exact response she instinctively knew Ace didn't want to hear.

Yet, if Ace feels anything untoward for the strangers in the photo, he doesn't let his face betray it. A stillness envelopes the room. Ace lets the frame slip from his hand and drop to the floor, glass cracking at impact. He plops down on the floor next to Yuu.

Suddenly, he winces and draws his hand up. Red wells up from a cut – Ace had accidentally palmed a freshly made glass shard. He pinches the shard and removes it, tossing it across the room. He looks at Yuu and shrugs.

"My condolences about your family," Ace says, looping an arm around her shoulder.

Yuu looks at him blankly.

Ace bursts out laughing. With every heave of his chest, Yuu is jostled around despite being frozen in fear.

"Sorry, sorry," Ace apologizes. "Didn't mean to scare you or anything."

Ace smooths Yuu's hair with a hand. His face softens. He comes close, far too close, lips ghosting Yuu's hair. He trails down until soft breaths hit Yuu's ear.

The voice that leaves Ace is low and dangerous. " _Why did you leave us?_ "

Yuu's jaw moves as if to form words, then stops. Finally, her lips twist into a wry smile.

"I didn't have anywhere else," she replies.

"That's bullshit!" Ace suddenly shouts. He's gone rigid, nearly red in anger. He's lost his affectation of cheerfulness now. Hands on either side of Yuu's shoulders, he holds her there.

"Don't you ever fucking say that again. Okay?" He keeps her facing him, forcing eye contact.

His bloody hand caresses her cheek. Red smears Yuu's face with the affectionate touch. "I don't want to hear that from you, after all we've been through."

Ace puts his palms to Yuu's chest and shoves her.

Her head knocks against the edge of a stray book. She groans.

It takes mere moments for Ace to straddle himself over Yuu. His face closes in toward hers until she can feel each puff of breath from Ace's nose. His fingertips trace her neck, slowly lowering to her collarbones. He drinks up each twist of her expression as she tries to bear it. His hand leaves small smears of blood wherever it goes – this is no different when he traces a thumb over Yuu's lips.

"It's a good color on you," Ace says and at long last, closes the small distance for a kiss.

The rust-flavored kiss is rough despite the gentle warmth of Ace's lips. His hand wanders the curve of her waist until he hits a spot that sends a jolt up Yuu's spine. His touch becomes more persistent until her back arcs, surprising both Yuu and Ace. She feels his lips curl into a smile.

A voice comes from the doorway. "I've finished the—" Deuce pauses when he stumbles on the scene. His eyes widen to saucers. He clears his throat, face growing red.

"I need you to check on the outside," he says stiffly.

Irritation flickers over Ace's face. He breaks eye contact with Deuce to look at Yuu. He seems to come to some conclusion, however, because he gets off of her.

Before he gets up, though, he stealthily trails a fingertip over the sensitive area of Yuu's side, eliciting a yelp from her. He grins and stands up, walking out the doorway and disappearing.

Deuce's eyes are dark while he mutters something to himself. "… doesn't keep his promises."

He looks at Yuu, conflict clear in the way he holds himself at the threshold of her room. That all falls away when he begins stepping closer to her. He crushes the picture frame underfoot, shattering it further. In seconds, he's face-to-face with Yuu. Close up, it's clear in his eyes that when Deuce looks at her, he's battling with the image of the Yuu he had known and this new, foreign Yuu. They gaze at each other for a moment, Deuce's eyes studying her face. Then his lips crash on hers.

Yuu's heartbeat stutters, breath hitching at the sudden contact. The heat of Deuce's kiss contrasts with the ice in his eyes. Goosebumps raise on Yuu's arms as Deuce deepens the kiss, every exhale from his nose tickling her cheek. By the time he finally lets her go, she feels feverish.

Deuce lingers for a few moments. He sucks in a deep breath and exhales it, long and drawn out. "You're coming back to Nightraven with us now." Even as the words are leaving his mouth, Yuu knows that he is stating hard fact.

That knowledge makes her heart tremble with excitement. She looks up serenely and Deuce meets this with a puzzled look. But this apparently pleases him, because his icy exterior melts until he embodies someone much more at ease.

"Alright. Let's go." Deuce grabs Yuu and helps her up. They're almost out the door before Deuce stops.

A crimson polka-dot journal is underneath his shoe. He backs up and picks it up, flipping it open to a random page.

> _The common dream where I see two different people, black haired and red haired, always seems familiar in a way I can't really place. Regardless, they turn and smile when they see my face. When I turn my back to them, I can feel their eyes on me. When I run, they take chase. Up mountains, into tunnels, in water, and through fire, they follow me until they're able to catch me, to hold me.  
>  Isn't that love?_

The air in the room has left, and Yuu finds herself shaking under the weight of Deuce's eyes. The eye contact, however, is interrupted by the entrance of a person-sized mirror. The person that sets it down to prop it up against the wall is Ace. He huffs a breath at the exertion.

He stops in his tracks, though, seeming to pick up on the room's atmosphere. He looks curiously at the pair before his eyes fall on the journal. He raises his eyebrows, but Deuce simply looks away.

He snatches it out of Deuce's hand and reads the same journal entry. When he looks up, the expression he gives Yuu is that of one an adult gives a petulant child. He exchanges a glance with Deuce.

"This isn't going to be as fun now we know it's what she wants," Ace says, rolling his eyes. Still, a kind of excited energy has seemed to envelop him. The sides of his mouth twitch upward.

"That's not true. We have surprises in store for her," Deuce replies. He's similarly smiling.

Ace shrugs his shoulders, sighing performatively. He grabs Yuu's left arm and pulls her close. Deuce loops his arm around her right one. Ace opens up his wounded hand and presses it against the bottom part of the mirror, now propped on the wall. He takes away his hand to reveal the faintest residue of a bloody handprint. Deuce sticks a photo over it. In it, the three of them are smiling with their fellow classmates from Nightraven. Ace and Deuce aren't looking at the camera.

Their reflections blur until another image entirely takes its place.

"You're 'it,'" is the simple vocal cue from Ace before the pair shove Yuu into the mirror. She falls, further and further into what feels like an endless expanse.

In the darkness, Yuu cannot see, feel, think. The only thing in her mind is the turning of carriage wheels over cobblestone roads and the stuffy coffin that had been the start of everything.

When her eyes see light, she's unsure if she had opened them or had been staring out the whole time. She lay there, unblinking, before it sinks in she is no longer in the void. She's laying in a fluffy bed decorated with checkered patterns.

There's also a pair of gold eyes peering into her face. She jumps when she registers them. Immediately after, a blur of fur pounces forward and nearly suffocates her.

"Mmph—Grim!" All at once, the memories come flooding back. Yuu has returned to the world that she was dragged to once before and is currently being asphyxiated by the creature that had been her closest companion in this place.

Yuu is freed from Grim when someone grabs him and pulls him off her. Finally able to see properly with no mental or physical barriers, Yuu becomes aware of just how many people are crowding around her. All but two are wearing the Heartslabyul school uniform.

It's Trey that's holding Grim mid-air, but only before he immediately drops him off to the side. He crouches at the bedside, smiling at Yuu. "It's good to have you back. How are you feeling?"

Yuu is speechless for a moment. The reality of the whole situation sends shivers down her spine. She can't tell if the adrenaline pumping through her is panic or excitement. Regardless, she straightens her posture before returning Trey's look. "Feels good to be home."

The bed creaks underneath Cater's weight as he takes a seat by Yuu's legs. "Me and Trey made the trip over just because we knew you'd be coming back."

Suddenly, the door bursts open, the crowd parting to allow the new addition inside. Yuu understands at once why when she sees the bright red head of hair that could belong only to one person—Riddle. His heels click rapidly against the floor as he rushes over to Yuu's bedside. Cater and Trey jump out of the way.

Riddle pulls Yuu into a tight embrace. Face buried in his chest, she catches the vague scent of roses. She returns the gesture almost immediately, wrapping her arms around his torso. She can hear him sniffle above her head.

When he finally loosens his grip, it's to cradle Yuu's face in his hands. Besides the shine in his eyes, there are no traces of tears—he wouldn't let himself cry in front of his dorm members. Still, he looks as if he hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.

"Welcome to your forever home," he says. He smiles when Yuu is silent. "By home, I mean this world. You're always welcome at Heartslabyul, though."

A silent understanding passes between the two, because Riddle steps back, smile now bittersweet. "Those devious two-years made all their plans on their own. My dorm and I were able to greet you because of a little information collection, but I suppose it's time to let you go. You know where you're headed, don't you?"

Yuu bobs her head. When she smiles, it's in memory of two friends that she made early into her career as prefect. Riddle blinks and looks away, clearing his throat. A reassuring pat from Trey is what finally allows him to loosen his bunched-up shoulders.

Cater moves to the bed again to peel away the sheets and help Yuu onto her feet. It's as he does so that he whispers in her ear. "Riddle wouldn't leave his room the whole time he was waiting for you to come back."

He gives her shoulder a small squeeze and smiles when she looks up at him. "Come back and spend some time with us too, okay?"

Grim, who had been remarkably quiet up until that point, speaks up. "That's right!"

Yuu covers Cater's hand with her own and nods. When she moves to walk to the door, she turns once to wave goodbye at those present. Then she breaks out into a run. Riddle shakes his head at the stark rule-breaking but is quiet just this once. Grim does a good job of hiding his disappointment at having been left behind.

Yuu keeps running through halls until she's finally back onto the main campus. She knows exactly where she has to go to find her two dear friends. She doesn't slow her pace as her feet slam against pavement towards a very familiar building.

Ramshackle Dorm has never looked particularly attractive from the outside, and that hasn't changed in Yuu's absence. One detail that she does not miss is the light streaming from the dusty windows. She trots up to the front door and pauses, hand frozen over the doorknob. It takes a moment to gather the courage to click the door open and slip inside.

Now inside, Yuu finds that the dorm has gone dark. Due to it being evening, the dorm is casted in long shadows and Yuu has to strain her eyes to make out the shapes of her old furniture. She takes a few steps inside. The flooring creaks underneath her feet as she moves closer to the living room that she had spent so many days lounging in with Ace, Deuce and Grim.

Memories rise to the surface, becoming more visible as floating dust is in light. Yuu's eyes pass over marks in the flooring from when Ace used roller skates indoors, gifts Deuce brought from his mom after break, and empty cans of tuna that were emptied and cleaned up to be repurposed. Somehow, she finds herself at the base of the staircase that leads to her bedroom. She begins to climb, following her instinct.

The darkness becomes more palpable with every step deeper into the hallway before she nears the end of it. Light struggles in through a single window embedded in the far wall. It's enough to guide her to the doorknob of her bedroom. She doesn't hesitate this time, letting herself in with confidence.

The room is empty. The last struggling rays of sunset fall through threadbare curtains. Her bed remains in the sloppy state she left it. Her old school clothes are in a rumpled pile on the floor. Her books and backpack are slumped against a wall. There's just one thing that's different.

There's a present set on the carpet, clear as day. Yuu moves closer to get a good look at it and hears the door click behind her. She turns and sees two figures.

Deuce is the one with his palm flat against the wooden paneling of the door. Ace has his arms folded beside him, a slanted smile on his face. They crouch down beside Yuu, close enough that she is scared they might hear how fast her heart is racing.

Ace playfully punches her arm and motions to the package. "Well? Aren't you going to open up our gift?"

Deuce exhales, long and slow. It tickles Yuu's cheek. "We put a lot of work into it."

Yuu swallows and nods. She lets the anticipation grip her as she begins to tear the paper away and pull the cardboard flaps open.

Inside the box is a single framed photograph. It's of her mom and dad. They're both grinning and holding each other. It's a family photo that Yuu remembers fondly.

Yuu is no longer in it.

It's when the frame begins to tremble that Yuu realizes she is shaking. Slowly, carefully, she sets the photograph down and turns back to Ace and Deuce.

Ace smooths a hand over Yuu's hair, an unconscious habit he's developed over the last year. His button catches one of her hairs as his hand falls and painfully plucks it, but Ace only smiles when Yuu winces. "There's no going back for you."

Deuce takes Yuu's hand into his own and traces his thumb over her knuckles. "It'll be easier now that you have just one home."

Yuu does the unexpected. She wraps Ace and Deuce into a tight embrace, Ace's head over her left shoulder and Deuce's over her right. The pair freeze at the sudden skinship before reaching their arms out to pull her closer.

When Deuce speaks, his voice wobbles. "I thought I wouldn't ever see you again."

Ace breaths out shakily. "I missed the way you would call my name. I missed the way you would look at me."

Yuu gently pulls away after a few moments. She studies Ace and Deuce's faces before finally, the corners of her mouth quirk up. "Thank you, both of you. You make me feel loved."

Deuce absently trails the length of Yuu's forearm. He looks up and shakes his head. "This was for us, in the end."

Ace squeezes Yuu's knee and leans forward until their foreheads touch. "We wouldn't let you go so easy. Especially now that we have you all to ourselves."

Ace and Deuce get to their feet, pulling Yuu up with them.

"So what's the mission of the day? We're dying to know what the next adventure is," Ace says. He opens the door wide and steps out.

Deuce pulls Yuu forward excitedly by the hand. "We can catch up on the way," he says. "Come on."

Yuu follows Deuce's lead as she's guided out of the room, down the stairs and out Ramshackle Dorm's front door with Ace in tow. She only looks over her shoulder once as the dorm grows smaller in the distance. The sight is a welcome one.

**Author's Note:**

> this time I wanted to kind of defy expectations with "yandere" romance and have a bigger focus on the affection / consensual aspect. yuu is an unknown when it comes to the game so there's a lot of room for interpretation!
> 
> written to 椎名もた's Lost & Found.


End file.
